Columbus, MS - The 2006 racing year came to an end Saturday night at Columbus Speedway with the second night of the 6th Annual Commercial Dispatch Possum Town Grand Prix.
"The Real Deal" Don O'Neal would back up his victory in the Magnolia State 100 in
September at the Bullring by winning the 50-lap, $5,000-to-win PTGP main event, this time in the Jay Dickens Racing Engines house car. O'Neal took the lead at the start of the event from Randy Korte and Billy James.
Friday night's PGTP main event winner Chris Wall would jump into third place ahead of James following a lap 1 caution, then chase Korte following another caution on the second lap. O'Neal would stretch out ahead of Korte and Wall, with James trailing in 4th. Wall and Korte would duel door-to-door each lap until Wall took over the position entering the front stretch on lap 10 as O'Neal delved into lapped traffic up ahead.
Wall began reeling in O'Neal, while Mike Boland moved up to challenge James for 4th place. O'Neal's lead had evaporated by lap 13, and Wall began looking to the inside of the red #1 machine as they both worked their way through backmarkers. As Boland took over 4th place and proceeded to track down Korte, Wall continually drove alongside O'Neal looking for the lead.
Boland closed on Korte by lap 18 as O'Neal continued to both fight off Wall and fight through traffic, with a fair distance between both battles. With Wall nearly taking the lead away on the inside, O'Neal changed tactics, going to the low side of a pack of lapped cars on lap 25 and leaving Wall with no open line. O'Neal motored away as Wall searched for a way through the traffic, but a lap 27 caution took the leader's newfound advantage quickly away.
Another lap went into the books before caution fell again on lap 28, with O'Neal, Wall, Korte, Boland, and James in the top five. James took a chance on the restart, diving low to go 3-2ide with Korte and Boland for 3rd place, but wound up losing 5th place to 2005 PGTP winner Michael England with David Gentry following on his heels. As O'Neal led Wall around the speedway, Boland continued to work on Korte, with a successful pass for third being wiped out by a lap 37 caution.
True to form, cautions once again came in pairs with another yellow on lap 38, with Gentry edging into the top five for the restart over England. Gentry would dive under Boland, but Boland held on to once again challenge Korte for third as O'Neal finally started to distance himself from Wall. Boland's job got much easier when Korte pulled up lame while Boland mounted a pass attempt, moving Boland to third, Gentry to fourth, and Korte to the pits.
Boland wasted little time reeling in Wall, but a lap 46 caution would bring the whole field back together. Contact between Wall and Boland on the restart left Wall with a flat tire, and the Friday night winner left the track with O'Neal, Boland, Gentry, Eddie Rickman, and Scott Slay now holding down the shuffled top five for a 4-lap shootout.
O'Neal was apparently not interested in a spectacular ending, driving away quickly with a clear track ahead and on to the checkered flag. O'Neal would take the win over Boland and Gentry, with Slay capturing 4th place from Rickman in the final laps. James, Justin Ratliff, Wall (from the rear in 4 laps), Tyler Landers, and Track Champion Shawn Edwards would earn top-ten honors.
Bryan and Jason Brock would run 1-2 for most of the Open-Wheel Modified feature, but Shay Knight wedged his way between the two at the finish as Bryan Brock took the win. Gabe Menser and Matt Price rounded out the top five, with Lee Ray, Greg Fanning, Jeremy Kester, Lucas Lee, and Jeremy Shaw in the top ten.
Jimmy Owens caught up with leader Shannon Buckingham in the Stormpay.com Crate Late Model main event, but was spared having to make an actual pass attempt when Buckingham lost a wheel in turn 2. Owens would hold off strong challenges from Carnell Parker on his way to victory. Frankie Beard, Darrell Guess, and Griffin Kinsey completed the top five, followed by Darrin Dorsey, Landon Frith, Josh Fuller, Jeff Smith, and Matthew Turner.
Scott Flurry would come out on top of Jeremy Glasgow and Marcus Minga in Late Model Stock action, while Mark Ainley took the Street Stock win over Dusty Robertson and Mark Thrash. Michael Pendley ended the Mini Stock racing year in fine fashion with a win over Allen Gilreath and Aaron Peay. The team of John Beard & Lee Ray would win the Two-Person Cruiser World Championship.
POSSUM TOWN GRAND PRIX NIGHT 2
Super Late Model
1ST 1 DON O'NEAL
2ND 222 MIKE BOLAND
3RD 56 DAVID GENTRY
4TH 6 SCOTT SLAY
5TH 68 EDDIE RICKMAN
6TH 5JR BILLY JAMES
7TH 16 JUSTIN RATTLIFF
8TH 71 CHRIS WALL
9TH 12 TYLER LANDERS
10TH 5 SHAWN EDWARDS
11TH R1 RILEY HICKMAN
12TH 33 TIM MANVILLE
13TH 28 ROBBIE HARVEY
14TH 27 TOMMY SURRETT
15TH 5E MICHAEL ENGLAND
16TH 00 RANDY KORTE
17TH 82 JASON SANDERFORD
18TH 99 TERRY SMITH
19TH 32 MARK DODSON
20TH 20 TOMBO CALLAHAN
21ST X TERRY GRAY
22ND 86 RICK RICKMAN
23RD M31 JERRY OWENS
24TH 18 RONNY LEE HOLLINGSWORTH
Open Wheel Modified
1ST 8 BRYAN BROCK
2ND 3 SHAY KNIGHT
3RD 4 JASON BROCK
4TH G1 GABE MENSER
5TH 17 MATT PRICE
6TH 2 LEE RAY
7TH 2 GREG FANNING
8TH 19 JEREMY KESTER
9TH 12 LUCAS LEE
10TH 1S JEREMY SHAW
11TH 4 VIRGIL JEFFERY
12TH 34 BEN STEPHENS
13TH 15 SHANE STEPHENS
14TH X TRINITY WYERS
15TH 32 SHANE HARRIS
16TH F5 RICHARD CLEW
17TH P3 MIKE POWERS
18TH 73S ASHLEY NEWMAN
19TH 115 DANNY GENTRY
20TH 94E ED LENHARDT
21ST 00 RICKY WAGONER
22ND 1 BART RICHARDSON
23RD 11 JIMMY BRASFIELD
24TH 41 BILL SUDDUTH
Stormpay.com Crate Late Models
1ST 20 JIMMY OWENS
2ND 75 CARNELL PARKER
3RD 21 FRANKIE BEARD
4TH 17 DARRELL GUESS
5TH 93 GRIFFIN KINSEY
6TH 23 DARIN DORSEY
7TH 17 LANDON FRITH
8TH 99 JOSH FULLER
9TH 00 JEFF SMITH
10TH 10 MATTHEW TURNER
11TH 12 ZACK NICHOLS
12TH 77T CHRIS WALL
13TH 16 JEFF FIELDS
14TH 84 ANTHONY RUSHING
15TH 52 JUSTIN MCREE
16TH 6 TK KING
17TH 8 CHRIS TAYS
18TH 18 MICHAEL PAGE
19TH X15 BRIAN RICKMAN
20TH 56 DAVID GENTRY
21ST 18 CHASE WASHINGTON
22ND 44 SHANNON BUCKINGHAM
23RD 4 WILEY WILLIAMS
24TH C66 JERRY OWENS
Late Model Stock
Top 10
1ST F1 SCOTT FLURRY
2ND 7 JEREMY GLASGOW
3RD 19 MARCUS MINGA
4TH 911 CHRIS REED
5TH 8 JASON DOWNS
6TH 7 STACY TYLER
7TH 9 THOMAS MCREYNOLDS
8TH 24 JODY GUEST
9TH 12 TRENT LETSON
10TH M14 TIM HARRIS
Street Stock
Top 10
1ST 4 MIKE AINLEY
2ND 8 DUSTY ROBERTSON
3RD 02 MARK THRASH
4TH 48 CRAIG BARHAM
5TH K24 MARVIN BEARD
6TH 32 WESLEY BLAIR
7TH 55 JIMMY LANTRIP
8TH 83 KEVIN MONAHAN
9TH 22 JOHNNY KELLEY
10TH Q32 QUITERIO AREVALOS
Mini Stock
Top 10
1ST 57 MICHAEL PENDLEY
2ND 42 ALLEN GILREATH
3RD 11 AARON PEAY
4TH 91 JAMES COOPER
5TH 2 MIKE MINOR
6TH 13 BRIAN DODGEN
7TH 17 DONNY ANDREWS
8TH 51 GREG RUFFIN
9TH 2CC CLINT THAXTON
10TH 33X BILLY ODOM
Two-Person Cruiser World Championship
Top 10
1ST 22 JOHN BEARD & LEE RAY
2ND 11 WAYNE & JAMIE SUDDUTH
3RD 71 KEITH & KEVIN MONAHAN
4TH F87 BRAD & BRYAN FORTNER
5TH 888 MIKE PEARSON & SCOTT GABLE
6TH K6 TRINITY WYERS & CURT SMITH
7TH M57 PAUL MORRIS & LAURA MORRIS
8TH 7 JUNIOR KENDALL & GREG KENDALL
9TH 55 ROBERT & ANTHONY SUMMERVILLE
10TH 578 SCOOTER WARE & MARK ACKER
